TheMitchells

Okay - we have the first quote for ashp, radiators to 2 beds, bathroom, shower room and hall. (thats 5 rads), HWC and ufh to the lounge and kitchen - even though we didnt ask for that. I plan to add ufh when we do the extension as we will be re-doing the whole back of the bungalow. So will get that taken off. But its rather a lot!! while the EPC shows D, the bungalow is only 68m2 with an additional 28m2 when we do the new extension. So it is not huge. And we plan to retrofit insulation and renovate to a better air tightness. Am I being taken for a ride! That seems a large ashp for such a small building. I can see the Grant ashp for sale for £4,266 plus £800 for the installation packhttps://www.plumbnation.co.uk/grant-aerona3-13kw-r32-inverter-driven-air-source-heat-pump-hpid13r32body-111-37273?gad_source=1. But adding in the rads, hiring a plumber and electrician, should I just bite the bullet and get it done? I do have a second chap coming tomorrow for another quote. Unfortunately CVC have still not come back with a quote. I asked them over 2 weeks ago but nothing yet.

Tried that last week as I too heard they were good at customer service but our experience was awful! Especially when the parents were logged as vulnerable. Several days with no one calling back, even when they said they would. I was ringing daily but it took till Friday evening for someone to actually take control of this (from initial call on Monday morning) and get things moving. I like Octopus but they did not do a good job dealing withthis. Even if it turns out not to be their meter causing the problem; they should have contacted us sooner. But i guess all companies can drop the ball occasionally. 🤔

that sounds like a good idea and it would mean i could control things remotely for them. I shall suggest that to the electrician when he returns my call. he's an old school sort so hopefully can understand what they currently have. 😁

Well, Octopus are saying we have to get an electrician to test everything and see if it is all working. So i am going down that route first. I just hope they can check things during the day when there is no power to that circuit.... hubby plans to go over tomorrow evening and stay the night so he can test the incoming cable from the meter himself. unfortunately he can't go tonight. he seems to think the electrician can do a 'dead test' on the night circuit. Its only the night storage and immersion on there.

Can i ask Octopus to remove the Smart meter and replace it with a dual rate meter??

When this happened initially, i did contact our electrician and he said it was an issue with the meter so hence dealing with octopus. I am happy to get him back out but as it is both the immersion and the one small night storage heater that go off together, we know it is not one or the other but the whole night ring. I feel that the Octopus 'engineers' have no idea about old systems and how to integrate them to their meters. ideally we would go back to a simple mechanical meter, if possible. But as we are going to ashp and maybe pv soon, it probably is best to keep the smart meter. (happy to be corrrected on that) Re the immersion, no, it is only on a night ring and we cannot operate it during the day, unless we get an electrician to connect the two back at the fusebox. but then it would be on all the time unless my parents switch it off (this is likely to be the short term solution). We need to replace the whole heating/hot water system as it is that very old warm air central unit that is breaking down and I am looking to remove, once an asbestos person tests and removes it. (thats our other post on asbestos). And add ashp. Hoepfully then, it can all be changed to a standard set up, rather than the unusual one we have!

My elderly parents live in our bungalow with an old 2 ring system (one on all the time for most things and one for night, only for the immersion to hwc and night storage heaters). On Wed 10th july, they rang to say that they had no hot water or heating in their bungalow. I rang Octopus and an engineer came later that day and removed the old meter, installing a new Smart meter. As there is a daytime ring and a night time ring (hot water and heating) in the bungalow, we did not know if it had fixed the problem but the following day, it all worked – Hurray! However, on Monday 15th July, Mum rang and said the heating and water had gone off again. We contacted Octopus and I was told someone would contact me regarding this. That evening, someone did ring and we went through some questions that had been emailed to mum. They said they'd 'reset or something' but the following day, it was all still off and I rang Octopus again. I was assured someone would get in touch but no one did; however, everything worked on Wednesday morning. Sunday 21st July, Mum rang. Once again, the heating and hot water was off. I tried ringing Octopus but of course, no one works Sunday, and, as it was not a complete emergency (they did have daytime electricity, just no way of heating the water), I had to wait till Monday to contact them to report the fault. Details were taken and I was told it would be sorted. Long story short - eventually after many calls and two very distressed parents, Octopus sent an engineer on Saturday who replaced the meter again. Sunday, all was fine. But today, its all gone off (it may have gone off overnight sunday but Mum wasnt sure). So what to do?? I cant believe it is the meter again, unless it is not able to work with their two rings?? why does it work for a couple of days then go off?? We are getting quotes for an ashp and radiators, when hopefully the system can be made to work with the Smart Meter - the wiring and fuseboxes were done before we bought it in 2017 so all fairly new. but till we can get the system put in (hopefully as soon as possible), what can we do?? Should i pester Octopus and see what they can do? OH suggested a short term fix of connecting the immersion to the daytime ring and asking them to turn it on a couple of hours each night. They can do without heating luckily for a while. I'd be very grateful for suggestions.

Mix SBR with the cement, and then no need for a slurry on the pavers? Is that what you are saying? What do you mean by 50mm of conc?? concrete?? I plan on a good thickness of concrete, to raise the pavers to the level of the grass. I have laid them on the ground to test the look and if they fit in the space for the seat.

Not sure we have one but will check.

Does anyone have any idea if our warm blown air central heating system is likely to have asbestos in it? Should I get someone in the check? The system consists of a large number of bricks, heated by 3 (only 2 working now) electric wires. Once warm, air is blown around and through ducting around the house. its been in there over 50 years and is now coming out for a new system but it was pointed out that it may contain asbestos. Now I am worried!

Any updates, please? I'm looking to get rads for our bungalow so would be interested in your opinion.

Have not listened yet, but would think it very difficult to do. Unless you really like vegetables and do not mind having the same thing most days. It would be hard work! Looking forward to listening to it. 😃

I am about to lay 4 porcelain tiles (120 x 30cm) and have cleared the ground, ready for the base layer of cement. However, i know that a slurry is recommended for the back of the pavers. I can see the bags of slurry for porcelain are about £30 and as i only have 4 to lay, i would have lots left over. Am i able to use something like the evo-stick flexibond primer as it is only a tenner? https://www.wickes.co.uk/EVO-STIK-Flexibond-Tile-Adhesive-Primer-White---1L/p/253284 I did see that Wickes have this, which is only £20 so if not the Evo-stick, i'll get this. Just thought I'd ask?? https://www.wickes.co.uk/Mapei-Standard-Set-Plus-Grey-Ceramic+Porcelain-Tile-Adhesive---20kg/p/252711?gad_source=1 ps - I know it is recommended to lay on a sub-base but my ground is complete brash - compacted stone, which i have to dig out with a pick-axe. So I am doing away with the sub-base. Its only for a small seat and the ground is solid! I'll surround the pavers with gravel.

Okay - I'll see what they say and post details. I rang one firm yesterday and he turned up this morning, on time, seemed pleasant and not at all pushy, said he'll give a quote in a few days. I was quite impressed. He even seemed to know all about Passivhaus which I took as a good thing. Our bungalow is only 68m2 currently and adding the extensions will only add an aditional 30m2.

Is that true? We are in the process of getting quotes for our Ellesmere bungalow for ASHP, PV, radiators etc. I shall post details on here when they come in but I'd happily pay someone to fit them as it would probably happen so much quicker. I guess for me, taking the worry away of making it all work and getting it done as soon as possible, makes it worth paying more. As long as it isnt too much more!🤔

no - this is the current rear of the bungalow. we are looking to remove the flat roofed extension, add 2 m to the side, in line with the bit sticking out the right hand side (currently a porch) and add a full width extension, with pitched roof. We have not got as far as plans. Just seeing if things are do'able. The beam would go across the current rear wall and hopefully hold up a vaulted ceiling. the second photo shows what we were thinking of. (different building but nearby). I need to measure the height of the current roof to see if we could pitch the new one into it, without it looking silly. it may be too shallow a pitch.

While planning the extension to our bungalow, we are hoping to open up the lounge/kitchen area with a gulam beam, to give a vaulted ceiling. It would need to be around 8m long. We'd like wood for aesthetics. Is this do'able? Or would we need a post in the centre, which would give us difficulties in the layout?

After building the shower room, we had a free shot at planning so I put in for an extension down the side of the bungalow, to create a utility room and this was granted. But we did not think my parents could cope with the building work so it was never implimented. And, as they do little cooking, the current kitchen is enough for them. See origional and permitted plans. However, now that we are planning to move into the bungalow ourselves in the future, we would be looking to remove the flat roofed lounge extension and extend across the whole back to give a larger open plan kitchen/sitting room/dining area. We now need to upgrade the current heating system/addition of ASHP and it would need to have capacity for the new extension too. So we need a plan for whenever we do the renovation. This turned out to be far harder than I thought. The side would be extended out 2m, which would then extend to the current length of the lounge. We would like to have a pitched roof, giving a valted ceiling, tied into the current roof. The new exension would have patio doors to the garden and we'd need another door into the garden (I assume we need a second door rather than use the patio doors). But positions of those and new windows are flexible. We looked at what furniture we would be taking with us, and then after much discussion, came up with plan 1. I am thinking the utility room could have a complete wall of units, including the washing machine and a tall fridge freezer, then just an under-counter fridge in the actual kitchen. We dont have a dishwasher (thats his job) and am thinking an induction hob could sit on the kitchen island. But our plan does not look like we'd have many kitchen units. However, he plans to get rid of anything we dont currently use so is convinced we'd manage. (that arguement does not apply to the garage and workshop - just the kitchen!😁) So with our plan, we can now go ahead with renewing the heating system with an ASHP, radiators in the bedrooms, bathrooms and one large one in the entrance to the lounge. I am hoping the large night storage unit at the far end of the lounge (under a large window) will be able to stay for now. Then, we'd install UFH in the new extension eventually. My main concern would be to see if we can have a single beam across the whole exension, to avoid a post/pillar in the middle of the open plan room. It would need to be nearly 8m. If it were a gulam beam, that would make a fabulous feature with the vaulted ceiling. Any thoughts??

Very interesting. we had a smart meter installed yesterday and are planning PV, ASHP and Battery for my renovation of a bungalow. I'm with Octopus so I may have to have a word. Thanks for the info.

Life has been busy since I started the blog so apologies for the lack of posts. However, the hot water went off in the bungalow on Monday so this has become an issue again. In April, the hot water also stopped working. I called Worcester then as the hot water cylinder was still under warranty. When the engineer arrived, he replaced the immersion but he did say that the installed hotwater cylinder, a GreenStore SC 120l indirect unvented cylinder, should have a boiler to heat the water. We dont have a boiler. The hot water is heated overnight by economy 7, via the immersion. He said it was not designed to heat the water all the time and that was probably why it failed. It was installed in Dec 19. So I am not sure if the plumber who provided and installed the cylinder gave us something incorrect or not? He obviously knew we didnt have a boiler. But too late to moan about that. It does mean that we really ought to to get cracking on installing a new system that works. And I would like to make use of the government grant for ASHP, before they close down it down. Especially as we have a new government! Having looked at the Air-to-air systems, I believe we should just go down the ASHP route, with radiators. I have therefore contacted CVC to come up with a plan! The extension and renovation of the kitchen/rear of the bungalow is not looking like it will happen in the next few years. So it makes sense to go ahead with the ASHP, add radiators to the bedrooms and rear of the lounge, keep the night storage heating for general heating in the lounge (my parents like to be warm) with an electric fire for when it is really cold! the system will need expansion for when the extansion is built, whenever that is. If we remove the old warm air unit, which is in the centre of the bungalow, we will gain an extra cupboard. But where would the ASHP go? I'd rather not put it in the rear garden or side as thats where we will add the new extension. Am i able to put it in the front garden? I have asked if CVC do site visits, so I can be sure they understand the requirements and oddities of the bungalow. But I dont think anyone does these now - its all done via email and drawings 😕. I shall let you know what they suggest. The second decision is with regards to the addition of PV on the front roof. If we are doing all this, I need to find out if this would be a good time to add the PV too. My guess is that it is worth doing everything together. I shall report back what CVC suggest. Another call from the parents this morning changed things slightly. They had not realised but it was the whole night-time electricity supply that wasnt working, not just the immersion! They have a very strange system with 2 completely separate rings. One, runs off daytime, and has everything on it apart from the hot water cyclinder immersion and the night storage heaters. The other, night time has the rest. It would make sense to run the washing machine at night but this is on the daytime ring, so uses daytime supply, whenever it is used! Very odd. So I therefore cancelled the Worcester engineer and called Octopus who were very good and sent an engineer out this afternoon. he checked and confirmed that the night time supply was not getting though so installed a new smart meter. We are holding our breathe to see if tonight, it heats up the hot water. But the cable did light up his gadget - so it looked okay. And the Smart meter should help us see what is using their energy as they seem to be using far more than I would have expected from a small bungalow. I have also contacted a local supplier of Renewables to get a quote from them to give us a comparison. I shall post in the relevant section for comments. I guess we knew as part of the renovation, we would have to change the heating system, but we had hoped to do it all in one go. Hopefully we can make the changes needed now, with the ability to expand into the new extension, once done.

I volunteer in the Bicester Green shop, Sheep street, Bicester and we regularly have lots of great stuff in that could be useful for the builder or DIY'er. Today there were boxes of bolts/nuts/washers/Milwaukee Impact Driver. If in the area, I would recommend taking a look - its perfect for anyone looking to save some money. Many of the things are brand new and all electricals are Pac tested. We do add some things to Ebay but most are in the shop. I'm back there most Tuesday mornings if you need any more info about anything in particular. https://www.bicestergreen.org.uk/ 20240706_114903.mp4

Is anyone else watching these? I've gone back to the beginning and watching from the start. But whenever Gearoge goes back to see the finished building, the furnishings and accessories look more like a magazine shoot than the builders home! Do they just get interior designers to fill it for the tv before the actual builders/renovators fill it with their own stuff? I do love what they are all doing and its great to see the old buildings come to life again and have a new purpose.

Picture 1 shows the south facing roof. As you can see on the left the roof doesnt go all the way to the top. When we do the whole new extension, it will go all the way down the side of the bungalow. From the right blue arrow to the left blue arrow, extending the flat roof extension all across, and the garden wall (yellow) will have to go. But we hope to have a pitched roof, with vaulted ceiling in the new part. The car is parked pointing at the new shower room. Hope that clarifies things.

It has taken a while but i have just realised that air to air heat pumps are quite different to ASHP which is what i thought you were recommending. Air to Air ones sound like a possibility. I am hoping to speak to CVC soon as recommended by @Nickfromwales and shall see if they think air to air would be suitable. And I'm off to the NEC on Saturday for the renovation show so am hoping there will be plenty there to research.

Not much. maybe an extra panel or two but not much more. We have added a shower room to the side, but the roof does not go all the way to the top of the main roof. Our new extension would. I have asked about the inverters and am waiting for a reply.